


Inspiration

by pantropia



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 18:12:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9083776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pantropia/pseuds/pantropia
Summary: Poe Dameron speaks at Leia Organa's funeral.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I am VERY VERY DRUNK so any typos can be blamed entirely on whoever the fuck left that much Hobgoblin in my house.  
> For Carrie, who made Leia Organa real, but was so much more important than that.

“Just before he died,” Poe says, clearly very drunk, “Lor San Tekka said to me 'The General? To me, she's royalty.' And she was.”

 

Poe takes another swig from his drink before continuing, and if he's crying, what of it? “She was royalty, but she was more than that, too. She was... she was like a second mother to me. I was just a kid, when my Mom died, just a snotty kid. I was nobody, and she was _there_ for me. She told me stories about my Mom, and she made me laugh when I thought I had nothing in me but tears.

 

“She went through so much, and still, she was always so strong. I mean, she lost her whole kriffing _planet_ , she had to deal with knowing Darth Kriffing Vader was her real father, and she still had it in her to be there for this one snotty kid who shouldn't have been anything to her. Who'd still got his Papa, still got his home. She made me feel like I could deal. She let me know I'd be OK, cause _she_ was, y'know?

 

“And I'd bet pretty much everything I own that everybody here has a story like that. That's who Leia Organa _was_ , guys. She was the kriffing embodiment of strength. Of doing what had to be done, because it was right, of moving past your own bantha-shit and never giving up. I mean, anyone else, _anyone_ else would have been broken by their only son turning against everything they represented.

 

“Han kriffing Solo, man, he was one of my heroes, and he didn't have a fraction of her strength. His boy turned, and he ran, he couldn't handle it. Can't kriffing blame him for that, but not Leia, man. She was still here, still fighting. She asked Han to bring him home, you know that? Everything that ungrateful nerf-herder had done, she still had it in her to forgive him. Still thought he could be saved.

 

“I couldn't do that. You know what he did to me, I never made a secret of that, but hell, if he were here, it wouldn't be _that_ I'd kill him for. It'd be for hurting _her_. She deserved better. I don't get it, I really don't. How can you grow up with her, with the very _model_ of strength and light and goodness and determination and turn into _that_. I'll never understand it.

 

“And that's why we've gotta remember her the way she really was. Everyone knows she strangled Jabba with the chain he put on her. But we know about the memos that took ages to figure out. The weird inappropriate flirting with fly-boys half her age. And don't any of you pretend like you didn't tie yourself up in knots trying to work out if she meant it, or act like you'd have said no if she did. Like you didn't spend your teenage years unsure if you wanted to do her or be her, whether girls were your thing or not. Like you're still not sure now.

 

“I've heard it said that she _was_ the Resistance. That she _was_ the Rebellion. And she was. That's true. They think we'll be easy to beat now she's dead. But here's the thing. She's _still with us._ So long as we remember her, so long as we keep fighting, she's still here. We're the lucky ones. We had her example to follow, right here in front of us. No matter what happened, she kept fighting for what was right. Not just for herself, but for everyone.

 

“And we owe her. We owe it to her to keep fighting. To never give up, no matter how hard it gets, because _she_ never did. The Empire couldn't stop her. The First Order couldn't stop her. And they're not going to stop _us_. Because we're _hers._ She lost everything and she kept going, time and time again. And so will we.”

 

Poe looked around the assembled crowd before continuing. “We're going to do this, and we're going to do it for her. Leia Organa was the Resistance. We _are_ the Resistance. We _are_ Leia Organa. And we will _never_ give up, no matter what.”

 


End file.
